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Separatists vote for leader in breakaway eastern Ukraine

Pro-Russian separatists will vote to set up a breakaway regional leadership in the eastern Ukraine region of Donetsk and Luhansk aiming to take their war-torn region closer to Russia and defying Kiev and the West as the big guns still boom across the territory.

Luhansk: Separatists hold 60 people in building

An armed man, believed to be a pro-Russian protester, stands guard at a building in Luhansk. Credit: Reuters

Ukrainian security services say pro-Russian separatists have placed explosives in a seized building in Luhansk and are holding around 60 people against their will.

"The anti-terror group of the security services of Ukraine (SBU) .. has established that the criminals have mined the building...and are holding around 60 people, threatening them with weapons and explosives," the SBU said in a statement.